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Thursday, October 7, 2010

SEED conference for New Haven Entrepreneurs is Saturday

NEW HAVEN – Elmseed Enterprise Fund will hold its third Small Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) Conference on Oct. 9."In the midst of the most severe recession since the Great Depression and as New Haven makes a bid for Google Fiber, this year the theme for the annual conference is 'Social Media, Marketing, and Low Cost Solutions to Small Business Problems,'” organizers said in a statement.The SEED Conference will give particular focus to low cost, modern technology driven marketing opportunities for New Haven business-owners.

The conference will feature a keynote speaker and seven business skills oriented workshops run by local business professionals, the statement said.Conference attendees will have the opportunity to attend four workshops. Additionally, each workshop will be offered in Spanish, reflecting the diverse nature of Elmseed’s clients and the greater New Haven business community, the statement said.Last year’s attendees found the speaker panels particularly noteworthy, the statement said.For the afternoon, the conference will offer a Resource Fair, where attendees will have valuable opportunities to network with local community organizations and business professionals, the statement said.In keeping with this year’s conference theme, the SEED Conference will feature several speakers with expertise and experience consulting in those areas. This year’s keynote speaker, Tom Ficklin, founder of Ficklin Media Group, LLC will address the crucial marketing aspect of running a small business, the statement said.Having worked for both Empower New Haven and as a public relations consultant, Ficklin has a wealth of knowledge about marketing, media and community relations; he is ideally poised to provide advice to New Haven entrepreneurs looking to utilize both traditional methods and new technology to solidify and publicize their image, the statement said.Among other speakers is Kim Geronimo, a finance expert from Accion USA, one of the country’s most successful non-profits and two speakers from SCORE, including Rose Bednarz, the statement said.All conference attendees will have the opportunity to attend a workshop entitled “Tweets, Posts, and Pages: Effective Social Media Marketing” with Ed Aroyan of Aroyan Consulting, LLC., the statement said.

According to Conference Director Ben Daus-Haberle, at this year’s conference Elmseed hopes to show attendees how to make and increase sales even in a depressed economy, the statement said.

“We’re focused on the future of New Haven entrepreneurship,” he said, also in the statement, “and we’re thrilled to have a group of speakers who all understand and promote that vision.”

The daylong event will take place at Linsley-Chittenden Hall on the campus of Yale University. Prospective attendees can register by phone (203-903-2108), on the web at www.elmseed.org, or at the conference itself.

The Elmseed Enterprise Fund is a non-profit 501(c)(3) microcredit organization that provides small, low-interest loans and technical assistance to people looking to start or expand small businesses in the New Haven area, the statement said.